The present invention relates to a portable telephone, in particular to a folding portable telephone.
In a conventional folding portable telephone, it is difficult for a user to open two housings only by one hand, when the conventional folding portable telephone in closed condition is opened by the user. In other words, it is generally required for the user to open the two housings by using both hands. As a result, it is very inconvenient for the user to open the conventional folding portable telephone on a condition that the user can use only one hand, and the like. In order to solve such a problem, a proposal is made, in unexamined Japanese patent publication Hei 11-41328, namely, No.41328/1999, about a conventional technique that a folding portable telephone can be opened into a condition for talking by an operation of only one hand. Therein, disclosed is a “folding portable telephone” including a push button provided on an end surface of a hinge portion thereof and having a function to be automatically opened from a folded condition thereof by a user's pushing the push button (what is called, one touch open function).
The folding portable telephone disclosed therein comprises a first housing, a second housing, a hinge portion for joining the first and the second housings rotatably to each other, a spring for rotatably pushing the first and the second housings in the direction of being opened to each other, a locking mechanism for locking the first and the second housings into a folded condition, and a push button provided on an end surface of the hinge portion and pushed for releasing a lock of the folded condition by the locking mechanism. The folding portable telephone has a structure to be opened at a stretch from the folded condition thereof (hereunder called dosed condition, namely, a condition that the folding portable telephone is closed by rotating either the first or the second housing) into a shape for talking (hereunder called opened condition, namely, a condition that the folding portable telephone is opened by rotating either the first or the second housing) by a force of the spring for rotatably pushing, when the push button is pushed on.
On the other hand, in unexamined Japanese patent publication Hei 11-234377, namely, No. 234377/1999, disclosed is “folding compact electronic equipment” having an open and close operation supporting mechanism of a case that upper and lower case members are hinged to be able to be folded into one case. As a result, the folding compact electronic equipment becomes capable of being opened or dosed like one touch by one hand.
The open and close operation supporting mechanism of the folding compact electronic equipment comprises a magnet for the upper case member and a magnet for the lower case member each located on the opposite portions of the upper and lower case members to each other in the folded condition, respectively. At least one of those of both the magnets is movable against the other magnet thereof by pushing and pressing operation from the outside. In addition, both the magnets have such polarity that the magnets repulse to each other at the time of the pushing and pressing operation while the magnets attract to each other at the time of releasing the pushing and pressing operation.
Further, in Japanese patent publication No. 2582531, disclosed is a “folding portable telephone” that an upper housing and a lower housing including an antenna portion and a hook switch are hinged. The folding portable telephone comprises housing hooking means. The folding portable telephone can be rendered to be a folded condition by hooking the upper and the lower housings using the housing hooking means.
The folding portable telephone disclosed in the Japanese patent publication No. 2582531 further comprises hooking releasing means for releasing and driving the upper and the lower housings from the folded condition into an opened condition, an antenna projecting means for projecting a predetermined part of the antenna portion from the lower housing responsive to the releasing and driving operation, and hook switch driving means for driving, responsive to the releasing and driving operation, the hook switch so that the folding portable telephone may be an off-hook condition. The housing hooking means include a first magnet located in the lower housing, and a second magnet located in the upper housing so that the second and the first magnets attract to each other by a magnetic force larger than a hooking releasing force of the hinge portion in the folded condition of the folding portable telephone. On the other hand, the hooking releasing means are a magnet moving structure for moving the first magnet in position so that a magnetic force generated between the first and the second magnets may become smaller than the hooking releasing force of the hinge portion.
Furthermore, in Japanese patent publication No. 2658906, disclosed is a “folding portable telephone” comprising first and second housings which have a telephone receiver or a telephone transmitter, respectively, and which are rotatably coupled to each other by a hinge portion.
The folding portable telephone disclosed in the Japanese patent publication No. 2658906 comprises housing pushing means, housing hooking means, housing hooking releasing means, an antenna, antenna pushing means, antenna hooking means, antenna hooking releasing means, a hook switch, and a slide button. The housing pushing means always push first and second housings to be opened at a certain angle. The housing hooking means comprise first and second magnets located in the first and the second housings, respectively, which hook the first and the second housings at a folded condition thereof. Therein, the first and the second magnets attract to each other at a hooked condition by a magnetic force larger than a pushing force of the pushing means. The housing hooking releasing means releases the hooked condition by the housing hooking means. Namely, the housing hooking releasing means move the first or the second magnet in position so that a magnetic force generated between the first and the second magnets may become smaller than the pushing force of the pushing means. The antenna is rotatably provided in the second housing by the hinge portion. The antenna pushing means always push the antenna to be opened at a certain angle against the second housing. The antenna hooking means hooks the antenna at a folded condition of the antenna at the side of the second housing. Namely, the antenna hooking means comprise an antenna magnet located in the antenna, and a housing magnet located in the second housing so that the housing magnet and the antenna magnet attract to each other at a hooked condition by a magnetic force larger than a pushing force of the antenna pushing means. The antenna hooking releasing means release the hooked condition by the antenna hooking means. Namely, the antenna hooking releasing means move the housing magnet in position so that a magnetic force generated between the antenna magnet and the housing magnet may become smaller than the pushing force of the antenna pushing means. The hook switch makes the folding portable telephone be a talking condition. The slide button is capable of being pushed from the outside of the second housing. The housing hooking releasing means, the antenna hooking releasing means, the hook switch, and the slide button are composed of a coupling member located slide-movably in the second housing.
However, one of the conventional techniques mentioned above has the following problem. Namely, in the folding portable telephone having the one touch open function, opening force is automatically applied on the folding portable telephone, in a case that it is opened by a hand of an user himself without pushing the push button. As a result, even in the case, the folding portable telephone having the one touch open function is inevitably opened at a stretch from the closed condition thereof into the opened condition thereof. It is therefore difficult for users to use the folding portable telephone having the one touch open function with ease. This is because the folding portable telephone having the one touch open function does not have a merit that the other conventional folding portable telephones have. Namely, the folding portable telephone having the one touch open function does not have a function to keep an angle between the first and the second housings at a free position between the closed condition and the opened condition (hereunder, called “free stop function”). In addition, in a case that the folding portable telephone having the one touch open function is opened by a hand of an user himself without pushing the push button, the folding portable telephone having the one touch open function is in danger of being dropped from the hand of the user by a reaction of the one touch open. As a result, in such a case, it is necessary for the user to open the above-mentioned folding portable telephone with the folding portable telephone being holded by both hands of the user. Accordingly, the user is largely burdened with this.
Under these circumstances, it is strongly desired that an improved folding portable telephone is provided to have both the free stop function and the one touch open function capable of transferring the folding portable telephone from a closed condition into an opened condition by operation of only one hand, so that the improved folding portable telephone can be used very easily.